Coating or filling textile fabrics



Aug. 14, 1934. A. MELLOR El AL COATING OR FILLING TEXTILE FABRICS FiledDec. 8, 1932 Patented Aug. 14, 1934 PATENT OFFICE COATING OR FILLINGTEXTILE FABRICS Albert Mellor and Ralph James Mann, Spondon, near Derby,England, assignors to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation ofDelaware Application December 8, 1932, Serial No. 646,265 In GreatBritain December 30, 1931 7 Claims.

terial'over a gap arranged opposite to the spreading means, so that thesheet is free to yield under any unevenness, and especially localunevenness, of the fabric. The bed may also be arranged to yield as awhole; for example, the bed may be carried on a member mounted onsprings or other resilient means. A doctor knife affords a convenientmeans for effecting even spreading, and the subsequent description isdirected principally to the use of such knife as the spreading means.

The coating or filling may be applied to the fabric prior to itsreaching the doctor knife in any convenient manner. For example, it maybe poured on to the fabric so as to form a pool or roll along the doctorknife. The supply of the filling material is preferably controlled so asto maintain the pool or roll substantially uniform'in size, thus keepingthe spreading effort required fairly constant. The width of such pool orroll may be adjusted by means of boundary plates which confine thecoating or filling material to the width of fabric to be treated.

The doctor knife is preferably adjustable in order to provide fordifferent thicknesses of fabric and coating layers. Such adjustabilitymay be provided both for the height of the knife and its angularity withrespect to the fabric. Means may be provided for drying the treatedfabric continuously with the coating and filling operation.

Though the invention is .applicable to the coating or filling of allkinds of fabric with any desired material, it is of particular advantagein the filling of fabrics adapted to beused as linings. Such materialsrequire to have a firm, full 50 and springy yet smoothfinish,andparticularly in the case of lighter fabrics, a filling is required*to impart such finish. {This filling is usually effected by coating thefabric with gum which, in order to avoid any risk of spoiling theappearance of the fabric, is applied to theback only. By the use offilling materials of suflicient viscosity, a coating can be appliedaccording to the invention which does not penetrate to the face of thefabric, the evenness with which the coating can be imparted by the useof the resili-' ent bed in conjunction with the doctonblade affording anadequate safeguard against such penetration.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference tothe accompanying drawing, but it is to be understood that thisdescription is given by way of example only and is in no respectlimitative.

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional elevation of a form of apparatus accordingto the invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of part of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 shows in cross-sectional elevation a detail of Fig. 1 to anenlarged scale.

As shown in Fig. 1, a batch rollof fabric 12 to be treated, on a core13, is supported by a spindle 14 in open bearings 15 formed in brackets16 carried on a pair of end-frames 1'7. Further brackets 18 on theend-frames 1'1 provide bearings for a series of tension rollers 19, 20,21 which extend between the frame ends 17.

The fabric, denoted at 22, is led from the batch roll 12 and over andunder the tension rollers 19, 20, 21 to a resilient bed comprising areinforced rubber sheet 23 stretched over the upper face of a woodenbeam 24 extending between the frame ends 17.

Along the length of the beam 24 is a recess 25,

and, as shown clearly in Fig- 3, the reinforced rubber sheet extendsover the recess 25 and is adjustable as to tension, one edge of thesheet being fixed to the beam 24 at 26 while the other edge is securedin a clamp 27 having a threaded shank 28 which is drawn through a plate29 attached to the underside of the beam 24 by a nut 30.

Two frames 31, 31 are mounted upon the end frame 17 and are slottedvertically (Fig. 1) at 32 to house blocks carrying trunnions 33 of a bar34 which extends between the frames 17 and carries a downwardly pointingdoctor knife 35. Hand wheels 38, 38 mounted on vertical screwed shafts39, 39 extending partly down the slots 32 are adapted to raise or lowerthe trunnions 33- and bar 34 so that the edge of the doctor knife can beraised or lowered relative to the resilient bed.

A further hand wheel 40 is attached to one extremity of a horizontalshaft 41 borne in a bracket 42 mounted on one of the trunnions 33 and onrotation of the hand wheel 40 the angularity of the doctor knife can beadjusted through a worm gear 43 on the shaft 41 and bar 34.

The coating or filling is supplied from a tank 36, and is appliedto thefabric at a point a little in advance of the doctor knife 35 through apipe 37 extending from the tank 36 to a position above the desired pointof application. The rate of flow of filling material from the tank 36 tothe fabric is controllable by a valve 371 in the pipe 3'7, and may besuch as to maintain a pool of filling material of substantially uniformsize before the doctorknife 35 thus keeping the spreading effortrequired fairly constant. In order to retain the pool of fillingmaterial upon the fabric, the last tension roller 21 is maintained atsubstantially the same level as the resilient bed, and the width of thepool is controlled by boundary plates 48 adjustably mounted on a bar 49outstanding from the doctor knife 35, so as to be readily adapted to anywidth of fabric being treated.

The fabric is led from the tension rollers over the rubber sheet 23 ofthe resilient bed and out of the machine. During its progress beneaththe doctor blade it is supported in a resilient manner by the rubbersheet 23 only and in operation the doctor knife 35 is maintainedsomewhat out of the vertical with its edge pointing towards the batchroll 12. The doctor knife can thus be adjusted to spread the coatingevenly over the fabric in any desired thickness, the rubber sheet 23 ofthe resilient bed enabling evenness to be maintained in the case ofunevenness in the fabric, even where such unevenness is local and notacross the full width of the fabric. To allow for unevenness across thefull width of the fabric, the resilient bed as a whole is free to giveand for this purpose the beam 24 supporting the rubber sheet 23 ismounted on coil springs 46, 46 (see Fig. 3) surrounding pegs 4'7, 47attached to a wooden block secured to the end frames 17.

The fabric 22 is drawn through the apparatus by means of a rotatabledrying cylinder or can 52 co-operating with a nip roll 53.

The back of the fabric rests on the drying cylinder 52, thus allowingheat from the cylinder to penetrate and dry the filling material uponthe face ofthe fabric. The fabric may be passed around any number ofsuch cylinders depending on the amount of heat which may safely beapplied to the fabric during one drying period. It

is preferred, however, to avoid a multiplicity of drying operations thusavoiding danger of the partly dried fabric picking up scales of driedfilling material from the parts of the drying apparatus which,necessarily contact with the treated surface of the fabric.Conveniently, therefore, one drying cylinder of large diameter isemployed. The drying apparatus may be arranged to run in series with astenter for finishing the fabric as will be well understood.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:- i

1. Apparatus for applying coating or fill ng material evenly to a fabriccomprising spreading means, a support, a sheet of resilient materialstretched across said support in proximity to the spreading means, meansto hold said support stationary but resiliently with respect to thespreading means, and means adapted to draw thev fabric over the sheetand between the sheet and the spreading means so that by. theresiliency.

of the material of the sheet and the resilient mounting of the supportfor the sheet, the sheet is capable of yielding to local and generalunevenness of the fabric so as to cause an even COM ing to be applied tothe fabric by the spreading means.

2. Apparatus for applying coating or filling materialevenly to a fabriccomprising spreading means, a support, a sheet of rubber stretchedacross said support in proximity to the spread-- ing means, means tohold said support stationary but resiliently with respect to thespreading means, and means adapted to draw the fabric over the rubbersheet and between the sheet and the spreading means so that by theresiliency of the rubber sheet and the resilient mounting of the supportfor the sheet, the sheet is capable of yielding to local and generalunevenness of the fabric so as to cause an even coating to be applied tothe fabric by the spreading means.

3. Apparatus for applying coating or filling material evenly to a fabriccomprising a spreading doctor knife, a beam-having a channel in its'upper surface, a' sheet of resilient material stretched across saidbeam in proximity to the doctor knife, means to hold said beamstationary but resiliently with respect to said doctor knife, and meansadapted to draw the fabric over the sheet and between the sheet and thedoctor knife so that by the resiliency of the material of the sheet andthe resilient mounting of the beam, the sheet is capable of yielding tolocal and general unevenness of the fabric so as to cause an evencoating to be applied to the fabric by the spreading means.

4. Apparatus for applying coating or filling material evenly to a fabriccomprising a spreading doctor knife, a beam having a channel in itsupper surface, a rubber sheet stretched across said beam in proximity tothe doctor knife, means to hold the said beam stationary but resilientlywith respect to said doctor knife, and means adapted to draw the fabricover the sheet and between the sheet and the doctor knife so that by theresiliency of the rubber sheet and the resilient mounting of the beam,the sheet is capable of yielding to local and general unevenness of thefabric so as to cause an even coating to be applied to the fabric by thespreading means.

5. Apparatus for applying coating or filling material evenly to a fabriccomprising a spreading doctor knife, a beam having a channel in itsupper surface, a rubber sheet stretched across said beam in proximity tothe doctor knife, supporting springs to hold said beam stationary butresiliently with respect to said doctor knife, and means adapted to drawthe fabric over the sheet and between the sheet and the doctor knife sothat by the resiliency of the rubber sheet and the spring mounting ofthe beam thesheet is capable of yielding to local and general unevennessof the fabric so as to cause an even coating to be applied to the fabricby the spreading means.

8. Apparatus for applying coating or filling material evenly'to a fabriccomprising a spreading doctor knife, a beam having a channel in itsupper surface, a rubber sheet stretched across said beam in proximity tothedoctor knife, ten- .sioning means on said beam for imparting tensionto said rubber sheet, supporting springs to hold said beam stationary,but resiliently with respect to'said doctor knife, and means adapted todraw the fabric over the sheet and between the sheet and the doctorknife so that by the resiliency of the rubber sheet and the springmounting of the beam the sheet is capable of yielding 9 local andgeneral unevenness of the fabric so draw the fabric over the sheet andbetween the sheet and the doctor knife so that by the resiliency of thesheet and the spring mounting of the beam, the sheet is capable ofyielding to local and general unevenness ofthe fabric so as to cause aneven coating to be applied to the fabric by the spreading means, and adrying apparatus adapted to receive the treated fabric drawn past thespreading doctor knife.

ALBERT MELLOR. RALPH JAMES MANN.

